*** UPDATE: 1/22/15: Now that all the donations are in, and the requests for funding have been processed, we have started to dole out the Relief Fund.  As of this morning, we have sent out $,4410, benefiting 22 young racers! ***

As most of you know, the last day of Cyclo-Cross Nationals in Austin was canceled due to  . . . potential damage to trees.  Great analysis of the situation in Velonews.

The news was a bummer to the Bike Law crew because it meant we couldn’t spend the day drinking beer and cheering on the Elite, Junior, and U23 racers.  It’s why we chose to have our annual meeting in Austin in the first place.

But self-pity evaporated pretty quickly when we thought of the racers that have sacrificed so much to be here.

The event has been postponed until tomorrow, Monday.  Which means that racers (many of whom were already maxed out) are now stuck with another hotel expense, changed flight charges, etc.  One Junior emailed and said that he had to change his flight to Belgium to prepare for World’s to the tune of $500.

We decided to donate $1000 to help.

Thanks to some great folks on Twitter, the word spread and others jumped in.

The incredible folks at Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin matched with another $1000!

And then other folks wanted to donate, too! So we set up a PayPal account for the purpose of collecting $$ to help.  Donations poured in, with one fellow [now, two fellows] giving $500!  Over $7000 has been raised from over 70 donations!

An Austin screen printing shop, Fine Southern Gentlemen, donated the proceeds from the sales of their CX t-shirt.

We are trying to arrange this quickly, but here’s how it will work:

1) Riders of all ages who need some financial help, email [email protected]  I don’t know yet what we will be able to do for each, but we are collecting the requests and will do our best to help as many as we can.

2) We have received more than 35 requests so far.

3) Please donate: Paypal account [email protected].  The donations have been rolling in, and the kitty is growing.   We are over $7000.

4) The more bread we have, the more riders we can support.  So please spread the word!

5) Administration of this will be a challenge.  I think the easiest way is for us to write reimbursement checks, starting tomorrow.  But PayPal transfer might be easier.

6) Stay tuned.  Twitter: bikelawcom.  We will report on every dollar donated.

Please excuse the typos, as I am writing this on a bumpy flight out of Austin.

Bike Law